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The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institution was previously known as Battersea College of Technology and was in Battersea Park, London. Its roots however, go back to Battersea Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1891 to provide further and higher education in London, including its poorer inhabitants.

The university is a member of the Association of MBAs and is one of four universities in the University Global Partnership Network. It is also part of the SETsquared partnership along with the University of Bath, the University of Bristol, the University of Southampton, and the University of Exeter. The university's main campus is on Stag Hill, close to the centre of Guildford and adjacent to Guildford Cathedral. Surrey Sports Park is situated at the nearby Manor Park, the university's secondary campus. Among British universities, the University of Surrey had the 41st highest average UCAS Tariff for new entrants in 2020.

The university holds a number of formal links with institutions worldwide, including the Surrey International Institute, launched in partnership with the Dongbei University of Finance and Economics. The university owns the Surrey Research Park, providing facilities for over 110 companies engaged in research. Surrey has been awarded three Queen's Anniversary Prizes for its research, with the 2021 Research Excellence Framework seeing the university rise 12 places to 33rd in the UK for overall research quality and 41% of the university's research outputs classified as "world leading". It was named The Sunday Times University of the Year in 2016, was nominated again for the same accolade in 2023, and was The Sunday Times University of the Year for Graduate Employment in 2022.

The chancellor of the university is Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. Current and emeritus academics at the university include ten Fellows of the Royal Society, twenty-one Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, one Fellow of the British Academy and six Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences. Surrey has educated many notable alumni, including Olympic gold medallists, several senior politicians, as well as a number of notable persons in various fields including the arts, sports and academia. Graduates typically abbreviate the University of Surrey to Sur when using post-nominal letters after their degree.

History

Foundation and early period

The University of Surrey was preceded by the Battersea Polytechnic Institute which was founded in 1891 and admitted its first students in 1894. Its aim was to provide greater access to further and higher education for Londoners, including some of the city's "poorer inhabitants". In 1901, evening classes provided instruction in subjects such as Mechanical Engineering and Building, Electrical Engineering, Chemical and other trades, Physics and Natural Science, Maths, Languages, Commercial subjects, Music and special classes for women including Domestic Economy subjects. Day classes consisted of Art, Science, Women's Subjects and Gymnastics, and classes were also offered in preparation for university and professional examinations. The institute focused on science and technology subjects, and from about 1920 taught University of London students, awarding University of London external degrees.

In 1956, the institute was among the first to receive the designation "College of Advanced Technology" and was renamed Battersea College of Technology. By the beginning of the sixties, the college had virtually outgrown its building in Battersea and had decided to move to Guildford. In addition to this, the Robbins Report of 1963 proposed that the Colleges of Advanced Technology, including Battersea, should expand and become degree-awarding universities. In 1965, the university-designate acquired a greenfield site in Guildford from Guildford Cathedral, Guildford Borough Council and the Onslow Village Trust.

Construction

The site was first announced on 12 March 1964, to have 3,500 full-time students by 1975. Guildford Borough Council supported the proposal on 31 March 1964.

A complete model was built by December 1964 of the 83-acre site. The £4m contract was given to James Longley of Crawley in March 1965, for phase one, of three four-storey academic blocks, seven five-storey residential blocks, the nine-storey Senate House, lecture theatres and restaurant. It was built in only ten months.

The architect was the Building Design Partnership (George Grenfell-Baines). Government planning permission was given on 30 December 1965.

In May 1968, James Longley of Crawley were given the £1.75m contract for phase two, with two academic blocks, six residential blocks, a hall, and a restaurant. It was built with the Bison industrialised building system.

University status

On 9 September 1966 the University of Surrey was established by royal charter. In 1967, on the day before the installation ceremony of the first Chancellor of the university, the Aberfan disaster occurred. Alfred Robens, Baron Robens of Woldingham who was appointed the first Chancellor, was also the chairman of the National Coal Board, and as such was expected to visit the site of the disaster. Controversially, in a decision parodied by Private Eye, Robens continued with the ceremony in Guildford to become Chancellor. During this transition period, visitors to the Battersea campus on 25 October 1968 saw Led Zeppelin perform their very first gig, advertised as being at the university's Victorian Great Hall, on Battersea Park Road. By 1970 the move from Battersea to Guildford was complete.

Buildings and sites

Main sites

The university began moving in 1968 to a new 30 ha (74-acre) site on Stag Hill in Guildford, adjacent to Guildford Cathedral. Students continued to alternate between the original Battersea campus and the new Guildford campus until 1970. A further 90 ha (222 acres) allocated to the university remained undeveloped until 2005. The BBC's local radio station for Surrey and North-East Hampshire, BBC Surrey, has its studios on the campus. In addition the university has a student-run medium wave radio station, Stag Radio. In September 2009, the Guildford School of Acting moved into a new purpose-built facility on the main Stag Hill campus as part of a strategic merger between the two organisations. The old Sports Centre was converted into the Ivy Arts Centre, a performing arts facility housing a 200-seat theatre and studio and workshop space. In October 2015, the £45m School of Veterinary Medicine was opened by the Queen accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. The new Manor Park campus, designed as a car-free village, is 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) from the Stag Hill campus and on the other side of the A3 trunk road. It combines residences for students and staff, buildings for research and teaching, and sporting facilities.

Sports facilities

In April 2010, a £36 million sports centre named the Surrey Sports Park opened to replace the former UniSport facilities on the Stag Hill Campus. Surrey Sports Park is situated close to the main University campus, on its Manor Park site. It houses a 50-metre swimming pool, three multi-sports halls, six squash courts, a modern gym, three artificial floodlit pitches, outdoor tennis courts, a climbing centre and a coffee shop, bar and restaurant.

The 1,000 seat indoor arena is home to Surrey Scorchers basketball team (formerly Guildford Heat, Surrey Heat and Surrey United), who have been using the venue since 2010 following a move from their previous home at Guildford Spectrum. Surrey Scorchers are one of the leading teams and former winners of the British Basketball League, the country's top division. It also plays host to Surrey Storm netball (formerly Brunel Hurricanes), who also made the move to the Sports Park from Guildford Spectrum in 2010. Surrey Storm are two-time Netball Superleague champions, securing their last title with a 55–53 win over Manchester Thunder at London's Copper Box Arena in the 2016 Grand Final. It played host to all but four matches of the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup (the semi-finals, third place play off and final were held at the Twickenham Stoop). It is also the official training facility for Harlequins rugby club, playing host to their Men's and Women's first teams plus Academy fixtures, and was used as a training base for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, hosting a number of teams including South Africa, Scotland and Italy.

Organisation

Structure

The academic activities of the university are divided into the following three faculties:

Governance

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent was installed as Chancellor, a ceremonial non-residential post, in 1977. The university is led at the executive level by the President and Vice-Chancellor, as of 2025 Stephen A. Jarvis. The key bodies in the university governance structure are the council, Senate and executive board. The council is the governing body of the university, responsible for the overall planning and management of the university and to ensure processes are in place to monitor financial and operational controls, and the university's performance against its strategy. The council is composed of no fewer than eleven external members, up to seven ex-officio members and up to three members elected by Senate.

The Senate is the statutory body responsible for governing the university's academic matters, including teaching and research, and the regulation and direction of the education and conduct of students. The composition of the Senate is drawn from the academic staff of the university, together with a number of ex-officio, elected and co-opted members. The Chair of the Senate is the President and Vice-Chancellor of the university. The executive board is the senior advisory body that assists the President and Vice-Chancellor in discharging his executive authority to manage the operations and affairs of the university. It is responsible for advising on all matters relating to the university's strategy and for making recommendations to Council for approval. The above Bodies are supported by a series of Committees that oversee the activities of distinctive administrative and academic areas of the university.

On 15 September, it was announced that Professor Stephen A. Jarvis would become the university's sixth President and Vice-Chancellor, assuming his role on 15 September 2025. He succeeded Professor Max Lu who moved to take up the Vice-Chancellorship at the University of Wollongong in May 2025. Other predecessors include Patrick J. Dowling (1994–2005), Anthony Kelly (1975–1994) and Peter Leggett, the last Principal of Battersea College of Technology and the university's first Vice-Chancellor.

Educational links

Since its foundation, the university has fostered links with other educational bodies in the local community and region. The university currently validates undergraduate courses at Farnborough College of Technology and postgraduate research programmes at St Mary's University, Twickenham for students entering prior to August 2014.

Academic profile

Research

The university conducts extensive research on small satellites, with its Surrey Space Centre and spin-off commercial company, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. In the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, the University of Surrey received a 5* rating in the categories of "Sociology", "Other Studies and Professions Allied to Medicine", and "Electrical and Electronic Engineering"

and a 5* rating in the categories of "Psychology", "Physics", "Applied Mathematics", "Statistics and Operational Research", "European Studies" and "Russian, Slavonic and East European Languages".

The 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) at the University of Surrey opened in September 2015, for the purpose of research for the development of the first worldwide 5G network. It has gained over £40m support from international telecommunications companies including Aeroflex, MYCOM OSI, BBC, BT Group, EE, Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe, Huawei, Ofcom, Rohde & Schwarz, Samsung, Telefonica and Vodafone – and a further £11.6m from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

In addition, the Surrey Research Park is a 28 ha (69-acre) low density development which is owned and developed by the university, providing large landscaped areas with water features and facilities for over 110 companies engaged in a broad spectrum of research, development and design activities. The university generates the third highest endowment income out of all UK universities "reflecting its commercially-orientated heritage."

Admissions

In the 2024/25 academic year, the student body consisted of 16,430 students, composed of 12,500 undergraduates and 3,930 postgraduate students. The university is designated as a 'medium-tariff' institution by the Department for Education, with the average undergraduate entrant to the university in recent years amassing between 125–131 UCAS Tariff points in their top three pre-university qualifications – the equivalent of BBB to ABB at A-Level. Based on 2022/23 HESA entry standards data published in domestic league tables, which include a broad range of qualifications beyond the top three exam grades, the average student at the University of Surrey achieved 137 points.

According to the 2017 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, approximately 8% of Surrey's undergraduates come from independent schools. For the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a higher proportion of female than male students with a male to female ratio of 45:55 in the population. The undergraduate student body is composed of 73% from the UK, 11% from the EU and 16% from outside of the EU. More students graduate from Surrey with a First Class Honours degree (44.4%) than with a 2:1 degree (40.9%), placing it second amongst mainstream British universities by the proportion of First Class degrees awarded.

Notable academics and alumni

Notable academics

Academics to work at the university include Alf Adams, pioneer of the strained quantum-well laser; Jim Al-Khalili, the nuclear physicist, author and broadcaster; Aleks Krotoski, the technology journalist and broadcaster; Martin Sweeting, founder of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd; Nigel Gilbert, the sociologist pioneer in the use of agent-based models in the social sciences; Joao Santos Silva, who has made fundamental contributions to the gravity model of trade, and Martyn Barrett, who led the development of the Council of Europe's Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture and is a lead expert for the Council of Europe's Education Policy Advisers Network.

The current Director of the university's Advanced Technology Institute, Ravi Silva, is known for his work in Nanotechnology. In 2003, he was awarded the Albert Einstein Silver Medal and the Javed Husain Prize by UNESCO for contributions to electronic devices. The 2011 Clifford Paterson Lecture was given by Silva because of his outstanding contributions to basic science and engineering in the field of carbon nanoscience and nanotechnology. The lecture is given annually on any aspect of engineering. The General Electric Company Limited endowed the lecture in 1975 in honour of Clifford Paterson who undertook the creation of the GEC Research Laboratories in 1919.

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